Geary's London Porter | D.L. Geary Brewing Company

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Notes / Commercial Description:
Faithfully recreated by Geary’s, this classic English style has a deep mahogany color and a restrained roasted malt flavor. The result is rich and complex, yet smooth and refreshing. Original gravity - 1045; alcohol by volume - 4.2%; two row English malt (pale, crystal, chocolate and black); Cascade, Willamette and Golding hops.

Black with little head. Molasses and chocolate malt in aroma. Well malted taste with some brown sugar, tad of chocolate, bit of coffee,roast, and nutty like a brown.Good representation of the style.Medium mouthfeel. Satisfying. Not too bitter, just a bit of hops stays on the lips.

This beer was black like a porter should be. The beer had a little bit of a saltiness to it. Not really sure if this beer was supposed to be smoked or not. I'm getting the idea that they tried smoking the malts or something here. It's a drinkable brew, but it's not as good as I was hoping for. I should revisit this sometime.

A: The beer is nearly jet black in color and only has bits of red visible near the bottom of the glass when it is held up to the light. It poured with a thin beige head that died down but consistently left a thin layer of bubbles on the surface and a dense ring around the edge of the glass.
S: There are light to moderate aromas of chocolate malts in the nose along with some hints of burnt malts.
T: Like the smell, the taste has flavors of bittersweet chocolate along with notes of burnt and roasted malts. A light amount of bitterness is present and this lingers through the finish.
M: It feels a bit shy of medium-bodied on the palate and seems rather airy with a moderate to high amount of carbonation.
O: I really enjoyed this beer because it was packed with lots of flavors while being very easy to drink and rather light-bodied. I could easily drink this beer all night long.

Single poured into a tulip glass. "1264" julian date code on the bottom of the bottle.

Generates a large head of tan mocha foam, leaving random spotty lace in the glass. Inky black body, some tobacco stained brown shows through around the edges.

Roasty char, graphite, unsweetened bakers chocolate.

Dry astringent feel, ashy bitter roast, mellow roasted malt lending chocolate and unsweetened dark chocolate flavors. Body is a little light and watery, but the flavor makes up for it somewhat. Overall a good roasty porter, though Founders Porter is still superior by far.

Appearance: A lot of pressure was released on the opening of the bottle and the pour was all foam; eventually, it settled down atop the fudge brown liquid; as would be expected, there was plenty of lacing

Smell: Roasty, with light chocolate tones

Taste: Chalky and chocolatey, with a dry, almost tart flavor developing by mid-palate; chocolate, on the finish, but also somewhat aqueous

A: The beer is a dark reddish brown color with a short light brown head that fades slowly and leaves a thick lace on the glass.

S: The aroma is a little faint but contains roasted coffee, dark chocolate, smoked malts and touches of dark fruit and hops.

T: The taste is very smoky with flavors of coffee, chocolate and dark fruit. The malt character is hearty but a little on the thin side for the style and there isn’t a lot of sweetness. There’s a mild hops presence that comes in and provides a decent balance. The after-taste is smoky and slightly fruity.

D: Tasty, goes down very easily, not too filling, very good representation of style, this is a good beer to stick with for a while especially if you want a dark but mild beer. I could drink a few of them but I would normally go for something with more of a kick to it.

Nice to see this Maine brewery's beers down here in NC,pours a deep brown nearly black color with a thin wispy almond colored head but its gone pretty quickly,roasted malt and earthy nut aromas with a cola elemant as well.Flavors of roasted nuts and bitter chocolate are prevalent with a nice earthy lightly bitter finish.This is quaffable to say the least and quite flavorful,glad to give this a try.

Nearly black in color--no light can penetrate. Small beige head that leaves little lace.

Superior milk chocolate notes; a touch of sweetness without being coy.

This is a very thin porter with a relatively high carbonation. More coffee (with lots of cream) shows up here. Relatively tasteless on the first sip, but the swallow is very flavorful--with balancing hop.

This is an easy-to-drink porter. While the body is significant distraction, the flavor is very good.

Opaque dark walnut with glittering rubies at the margins. I love it when I'm greeted with such a light-rejecting porter because it means, more often than not, that the beer will be rich and full-flavored. Just how I like 'em. The sand colored head is small and not that impressive to look at. It hangs around long enough to be polite and manages to deposit a few splotches of sudsy lace when it fades.

As hoped for, the nose is great. I'm tired of washed-out looking, smelling and tasting porters. It's a real treat to get a bona fide barnburner for once. The nose is a classic combination of moderately roasted dark malt, cocoa and black coffee. Sweeter scents are evident as well; not quite molasses and not quite dark brown suger, but along those lines.

The flavor is good, although it doesn't hold up as well as I'd hoped thanks to a too-light body. I'm sure that light, easy drinking, low-ABV, sessionable porters have their place, but this beer could easily knock on greatness's door if it was bigger and bolder. All of the requisite flavor elements are in place, they just need a better delivery system than the one that has been provided.

The beer is more iced coffee-like than cocoa-like on the palate and contains a minimum amount of roasted malt flavors. Bitter and sour are present in roughly equal proportions, with sweet failing to even show up. I'm somewhat surprised that I can easily appreciate the flavor and the bitterness of the hops--Cascade, Willamette, Goldings--but maybe I shouldn't be when I remember how little malt (relatively speaking) is onboard.

After having seen the beer in the glass and after having been thrilled with the aroma, I was surprised that it was so light in the mouth. I know that porters aren't stouts, but I can't help feeling a little let down at an opportunity lost. If you aren't a Big Beer aficionado, you probably won't notice a thing. Or won't care if you do. At least the carbonation keeps things as lightly creamy as possible given the circumstances.

Geary's London Style Porter is good beer that could be great beer with one (admittedly major) tweak. As is, it's a pleasant enough ale that is the very definition of sessionable. I've enjoyed the two Geary's beers that I've had so far and look forward to exploring more of what they brew.

Presentation: The label on the 12 oz. short twist bottle pictures a fat Maine Lobster with a red "Geary's" banner across it. No drink before date.

Appearance: As one would think a modern day porter would look like, black. Rocky, frothy head that subsides into a tan bubbly lace.

Smell: Roasted malts and a hint of espresso. Some sweetness is evident.

Taste: Rich roasted malt flavours of bitter chocolate, hints of roasted coffee and a splash of acidity. Enough hop bitterness to somewhat match the rich malts, and balance. There is more of a chewy malt mouth-feel to this brew at cellar temperature.

Notes: An overall great porter, brewed to style. One of New England's finest.
An overall great porter, brewed to style. One of New England's finest.

It poured a deep brown, practically black with a tiny tan head. There was minimal lacing. The aroma has a nice full roastiness with some chocolate to it. The taste has a very full-on roasty, somewhat burnt-ness to it. There are some subtle hints of chocolate and nuttiness to help it along. The palate is medium with nothing harsh on the tongue. Overall, this is a good beer, decent for the style.

Pours opaque. Head is a bit of a darker tan. Huge also because I poured very firmly. Nose is basically like dusty chocolate. Not very impressive. Flavor is bordering on bland. Not much interesting going on here. Sure it has a nice steady body. But no real strong characteristics that stand out above the malt character? Feel is a bit thin on the liquid with a good carbonation. Overall it is very smooth which makes it very drinkable. But I just have to wonder if this was the freshest bottle available. Maybe I will try again one day.

Pours dark brown, almost black, with some ruby highlights. The tan head thins, then soon disappears to just a ring that leaves some trailing lace.

The smell is of roasted coffee and chocolate.

The taste is of roasted, slightly smoky, coffee with notes of bittersweet chocolate and licorice. A nice balance of sweet and bitter. Nothing too complex, but well-balanced and tasty. The medium body has an almost chewy feel. It has a fairly long, dry finish.

This is an easy-drinking porter. I recommend it if you are looking for a tasty "sessionable" English-style porter!

This was a pleasant brew. It poured a black color with a medium sized tan head. The head did slowly recede to the rim about half way through the drink. The aroma was a great blend of roasted malt, coffee, and licorice. The flavor followed the aroma, as the coffee and roasted malt tones most noticeable. Some minor bitter chocolate flavors were also there.

This is a heavier body brew, and the coffee tones last long into the aftertaste. Overall I found this to be a great porter and will look into buying more of this when I can find it.

This beer reminds me of an irish dry-stout at first. Its, well, dry and is dominated by a roasted character. It has a malty chocolate aroma, but the chocolate plays second fiddle to the coffee in the flavor, which there's a lot of for a 4.2% beer. Not terribly complex, but I could definately session this bad boy.